Friday, August 10, 2012

Incognito

Incognito is an Italian bistro which located at the ground level of Emporium Pluit, shared a connected spot with Han Gang and White Hunter. I have passed this place several times but never really interested in trying them until one day, I was meeting one of my good friend who I know is a fan of creamy pasta, so we decided to have an early dinner there.

The place has indoor and outdoor open air concept. The indoor one was meant for smoking, so we sat outside. The menu was surprisingly very limited, they only have one type of salad, not more than 10 types of pasta and several selections of pizza. So, we chose Potato salad (35k), Pollo ala pesto (70k), Aglio olio spaghetti (48k) and Sticky date pudding with butterscotch (45k).

Potato Salad

Out of surprise, we like all the food. The pasta especially were cooked al dente and nicely seasoned. My aglio olio came with generous crunchy and fresh prawns, and my friends Pollo ala pesto, a plate of pan fried chicken marinated in basil pesto served on fettucini and creamy garlic wine was also good. To be honest, I really did never thought I will be having a good meal here but turns out I quite enjoyed it. The salad was overdressing though, but both pasta was above average.

Unfortunately, the service was the opposite. First, when I asked the staff what kind of dressing they used for the potato salad, she can't even answer me and asked for other staff's help, and that one didn't help either as she said the dressing is bacon. I was like heh? Then another one came and finally deliver a correct answer which was mayonnaise. I think she mistakenly thought dressing as topping as they did sprinkle chopped bacon on top of the salad.

Second, after our salad being served, only in couple minutes they served us dessert... before the main course! We were surprised and ask her why the dessert was being served when we haven't even had our main course, and she replied me "you didn't say that it was supposed to be served the last". Doohhh! There is a reason why it's called dessert.

Third, after we finished our meal, my friend and I didn't ask for the bill directly, we stayed and chat. Around 10 minutes later, the waiter came to ask us whether we want to add anything and we said no. Another 5 minutes, she came again to ask us the same thing, it was like a polite reminder to ask us to leave, where there was even no other customer. We were the only customers who sat at the open air area. So, I asked her for the bill. After we paid, my friend and I was in the middle of conversation, so we didn't directly leave, and again after maybe 5-10 minutes, she came again and asked us her favorite question "do you want to order anything else?". Haiizzz... A good meal which ruined by such a service.